Topeka ? The state’s top labor official is singing the praises of the Kansas economy but says the state minimum wage – the lowest in the nation – is too small.

“The state minimum wage is embarrassingly low,” Secretary of Labor Jim Garner said.

The state minimum wage is $2.65 per hour, by far the lowest of the 45 states that have a state minimum wage, and 55 percent lower than the federal minimum wage of $5.85 per hour.

The state minimum wage affects about 19,000 workers, mostly in service or agricultural jobs, who aren’t covered by the federal minimum wage law, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Bill Wood, agriculture agent for K-State Research and Extension in Douglas County, said that he’d be surprised if any agricultural workers in the area were making below the federal minimum wage. But he doesn’t disparage farmers for paying less, if they can find young people willing to do an honest day’s work as they learn the business.

Farmers can hire 14-year-olds, he said, noting that he was among those in such a labor pool back in 1971 as a freshman at Atwood High School. Then, Wood’s hourly pay for milking cows, painting sheds and mowing grass was 85 cents an hour, and it allowed him to save up for his first motorcycle.

“Like my dad told me at that time: If you’re making 10 cents an hour, that’s better than sitting on your rear watching TV for free,” Wood said. “It doesn’t hurt to work for low pay for experience; some day you become a good worker, and you work your way up the ladder.”

Some Kansas lawmakers have been working to boost the state’s minimum wage, but legislation introduced during the past several legislative sessions has been blocked by business groups.

Wil Leiker, a lobbyist for the Kansas AFL-CIO, said pro-worker groups would resume their push to boost the state minimum wage when the Legislature meets in January.

“We have to keep trying,” Leiker said. “If you are one of the 19,000 who draw that wage, it’s pretty significant.”

Meanwhile, Garner, during his annual “State of Labor” address last week, focused on the expanding Kansas economy.

“The good news is that Kansas has a growing and diverse economy, with increased job opportunities,” he said.

State unemployment last year was 4.5 percent, just below the national rate of 4.6 percent.

Kansas added 20,500 jobs, the largest job growth since 1998, Garner said.

Kansas is experiencing an increase in good-paying manufacturing jobs – mostly in the aviation sector – while the United States has suffered a decline in manufacturing, he said.

But while wages have increased, so has Kansas’ poverty rate. Garner said the state needed to increase efforts to lure and train skilled workers.

– Staff writer Scott Rothschild can be reached at (785) 354-4222. Business editor Mark Fagan can be reached at 832-7188